Le Verre Volé
Posted on May 8, 2010 by VINGT Editorial
Text: Nick Forrester
Image: Katte Bellatje
Le Verre Volé, on Rue de Lancry, has a rustic French charm, which belies its relative youth. One of the pioneers of the ‘neo bistrot’ scence which swept Paris in the mid ’10s, it has kept standards up and still offers relatively simple, but excellent quality food and a vast array of wine. The tiny restaurant (make sure you book!) doubles as a wine shop – and while you’re eating there is a steady flow of customers coming for take-away wine, selected from the stacks of empty bottles decorating the walls.
Their Jambonneau is a leg of ham slow cooked for 60 hours and taken of the bone, by which time it’s tender enough to eat with only a fork and nicely accompanied with mashed potato and salad. As I learned over dinner, Jambonneau is also is slang in French for ‘thunder-thighs’, but hopefully not as result of eating this hearty dish.
The ham, along with the Assiette de Fromages and the Saucisse de Toulouse, are staple main courses on the menu. On the plat du jour menu there are often fish dishes, such as the St. Pierre with a purée de pois cases (John Dory and smashed pea puree) or the Queue de Lotte (Monkfish). Each is perfectly cooked and neatly presented.
The Verre Volé is known for its varied and reasonable wine selection – mostly small, natural or bio producers. They charge an additional € 7 on the take-away price for corkage sur place, which essentially makes it better value the pricier wine you go for.
Bear in mind that if you want to sit-in you need to eat which is where the cheese plates, multifarious starters and terrines etc come in to play (the Terrine d’agneau aux figues et baitia, was especially good).
The Verre Volé also has a wine shop on Rue Oberkampf with an even bigger and more reasonably priced selection of their independent wines. There is also an épicerie around the corner on Rue de Folie Mericourt which makes tasty sandwiches and sells gourmet produce.
Le Verre Volé
67 Rue de Lancry, 10th
Ph: 01 48 03 17 34
Hours: 12:30 – 2:30 pm, 7:30 – 10:30 pm
Metro: Jacques Bonsergent (5)
